Alexandre Vinokourov is playing kingmaker at the Dauphiné Libéré.

A day after stepping aside on Mont Ventoux to let Astana understudy Andrey Kashechkin move into the leader’s jersey, the 33-year-old gifted Friday’s 195km fifth stage to Astana teammate Toni Colom.

The Astana captain powered away from Friday’s winning 22-rider breakaway on the day’s final hurdle on the Cat. 2 Col du Corobin with about 20km to go to latch on to the attacking Colom and the pair drove home the victory 3:27 ahead of the chasing favorites.

Vinokourov then insisted the Spanish journeyman take the scalp because he knows his bigger prize comes in July during the Tour de France.

“I thought that Vinokourov deserved the victory today because he was the strongest rider, but he urged that I take the win,” said a thankful Colom. “This is one of the most important victories of my career. To arrive at the finish with Vinokourov is like a dream. The way he is as an attacker and the way he is as a man, he’s always been my idol.”

The presence of Vinokourov in the large group sent ripples through the peloton as the gap grew north of five minutes in the hilly stage across the foothills of the French Alps.

Kashechkin kept the leader’s jersey by finishing with the main field to retain his 14-second grip on the leader’s jersey over Christophe Moreau (Ag2r).

The top-six in the GC didn’t change but Vinokourov surged back into contention at seventh overall at 1:47 back going into Saturday’s decisive climbing stage to Valloire. Dave Zabriskie (CSC) remained fifth overall at 26 seconds back and Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) sixth at 53 seconds back.

“It was an ideal day today. We had Vino’ in the break and then we won the stage. We didn’t have to do any work at all,” Kashechkin said. “I don’t know if I will be able to win the Dauphiné. I am still not at 100 percent and we can see that Moreau was very strong on the Ventoux. Tomorrow will make things clearer.”

Kashechkin can expect attacks in Saturday’s epic in the making in a 198km, seven-climb march across the Alps from Gap to Valloire. The route tackles the imposing Col de la Croix Fer at 130.5km and ends with a quick 7km descent after climbing up the Cat. 1 Col de Télégraphe.

Stomach woes
Rain and a plague of stomach ailments that sent Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) and Bobby Julich (CSC) packing early made for a nervous stage.

Scores of riders have come down with a nasty stomach virus that’s making the rounds. George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) and Leipheimer were also feeling bad in Thursday’s stage up Ventoux.

“I was able to stay with the lead group, but I didn’t feel great,” Leipheimer said before the start. “I feel better today. Tomorrow will decide everything. Moreau should win if he races smart.”

Julich wasn’t looking at his best at the rainy start in Nyons and grumbled that he had a bad stomach. He slept on the team bus on the drive from the team hotel to the start and was too sick to push on.

Another victim was Valverde, who looked ashen and was even helped up the Ventoux yesterday by teammate Chente García.

“I felt better today but I still couldn’t stay with the peloton,” Valverde told Spanish journalists. “It’s too bad because I wanted to make a test in tomorrow’s stage across the Alps. I will recover and get ready for the Tour.”

Racing under light rain and cooler temperatures, a big break developed early in the stage. By 105km the gap was nearly six minutes and it was up to the other teams with GC prospects to give chase.

In the break were: Stef Clement (Bouygues) – best placed at 19th at 5:02 back; Vinokourov, Anthony Charteau (Credit Agricole), Leonardo Duque (Cofidis), Egoi Martinez (Discovery Channel), Iker Camaño (Saunier Duval), Rik Verbrugghe (Cofidis), Colom, Cyril Dessel (Ag2r), Christophe Edalaine (Credit Agricole), Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner), Ruben Perez (Euskaltel), Preben Van Hecke (Predictor-Lotto), Matej Mugerli and Mauro de Dalto (both Liquigas), Chente Garcia, Kevin Van Impe and Tom Boonen (QuickStep), Carlo Scognamiglio (Milram) and Magnus Backstedt (Liquigas).

CSC, Predictor-Lotto and Ag2r were forced to chase to keep the potentially dangerous group on a short leash.

“We made a mistake today by not putting one of our riders in the breakaway,” said Team CSC sport director Alain Gallopin. “I said if someone from Astana goes or if there’s a big group, we have to be there. We had to do more work than we wanted.”

With sprinters such as Boonen and Haussler in the group, riders were keen to make some attacks in the late-going when it became obvious the break was going to stick.

Several riders made stabs on the final climb, but it was Colom who had the strength to pull clear.

Perhaps in a preview of what we can expect in the Tour (or a rewind of what we saw last year in the Vuelta a España), Vinokourov bridged up to his teammate and the pair collaborated to drive it home over the final 17km descending into Dignes to grab the victory. He stepped aside to graciously let Colom earn the victory.

Come July, you can expect Vinokourov not to be so generous.

Results
1. Antonio Colom (Sp), Astana, 4:39:28
2. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kz), Astana, s.t.
3. Leonardo Duque (Col), Cofidis, at 0:15
4. Matej Mugerli (Slo) Liquigas, s.t.
5. Stef Clement (Nl), Bouygues Telecom s.t.
6. Preben Van Hecke (B), Predictor-Lotto, at 0:18
7. Anthony Charteau (F) Credit Agricole, s.t.
8. Egoi Martinez (Sp), Discovery, s.t.
9. Heinrich Haussler (G), Gerolsteiner, at 1:08
10. Philippe Gilbert (B), Francaise des Jeux, s.t.Overall
1. Andrey Kashechkin (Kz), Astana
2. Christophe Moreau (F), Ag2r, at 0:14
3. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, at 0:25
4. Cadel Evans (Aus), Predictor-Lotto, at 0:26
5. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, at 0:26
6. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery, at 0:53
7. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kz), at 1:47
8. Stef Clement (Nl), Bouygues Telecom, at 1:50

To see how the stage developed, simply click here to open our Live Update Window.